TUMPAT: A first-year student nurse studying for her diploma at the Health Ministry's Alor Star Training Institute (ILKKM) Campus in Kedah, has been reported missing for the past three weeks.
Nor Diana Mohd Najib, 21, was supposed to return to her family home at the KTMB Tumpat Housing here on February 29 during the mid-semester break, but she failed to do so and her whereabouts are unknown up till now.
Her mother, Maznah Ismail, 44, said she realised that Nur Diana, who is the second of four siblings, was missing when she could not reach her.
"Earlier this month, I tried to contact Diana but failed. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, as I though that maybe she wanted to focus on her studies. But then after a few days, she still did not respond, so we contacted the college supervisor.
"We were shocked when we were informed that she was on a 10-day break that began on Feb 29, and we became worried because Diana still could not be traced.
"On March 7, Diana called me via Whatsapp, and I asked her if she wanted to come home during the mid-semester break, and she answered that she didn't know, while crying," she said when met at her home here.
Maznah said her daughter, affectionately called "kakak" (elder sister), also mentioned that she wanted to quit her studies and find a job, even though Nor Diana was very interested in pursuing a career in nursing, where she was willing to retake the qualification exams several times.
She said Nor Diana had previously admitted to knowing a woman named Ika through Instagram, and during their last phone conversation, Maznah briefly spoke to Ika, who claimed to be from Meru, Perak, and who said that Nor Diana just wanted to stay at her house for two days.
The call, however, was cut off after that.
"That was the last time I spoke to her. After that, we only communicated via Whatsapp several times, but what was strange is that our questions were only answered briefly, and her sentences were very different.
"My daughter also referred to herself as 'saya' (I) in Whatsapp, which made us believe that it was not her that was communicating with us. We are puzzled now as Diana's Telegram, Instagram, and Whatsapp are now no longer active," she said.
Maznah said they had lodged a police report at the Tumpat police station and this has been referred to the Kota Setar police headquarters in Kedah, but so far, they have not received any good news about Nor Diana's disappearance.
She also said that she had visited her daughter's accommodations at the ILKKM Alor Star campus on March 10 to meet with the lecturers and Nor Diana's friends in an effort to trace her whereabouts but to no avail.
Some religious and spiritual healers that they consulted mentioned that Nor Diana actually wanted to come home but was being hindered by someone.
"We are at a loss, but at the same time, we continue to pray and perform 'solat hajat' prayers, hoping that she will return to us safely and thereafter resume her studies before any action is taken before March 27," she said.